


Chicken Scratch

by walker_bait



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Counseling, Homophobia, M/M, NO UNDERAGE RELATIONSHIPS, No Romance, No Smut, Peter doesn't have powers, Pining, Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-07 06:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18231377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walker_bait/pseuds/walker_bait
Summary: Being born with another man's name on you can leave you open to a lot of people harassing you for the sake of harassing you.  It can also make things fairly awkward at bars when you aren't gay.  Not to mention, everything is made substantially more difficult when your soulmate is thirty years your junior and underage.Based in an alternate universe where you are born with your soulmate's name written on you in their handwriting.**This work does not contain any underage relations between Tony and Peter.  Everything is kept platonic until Peter is an adult.**





	1. It's A Bit Awkward When You Aren't Gay

**Author's Note:**

> Please keep in mind this is not a romance fic. This focuses more on a hypothetical situation and is about how two people would deal with this healthily and legally. Any romance is being held off until much later into the work.

Having another man’s name marked on your skin forever makes things a little bit awkward when you aren't gay.  Especially when it is in such a prominent spot like your right wrist.  Howard, the raging homophobe that he was, had tried repeatedly to have the mark removed.  Nothing ever worked though.  All it left Tony with were scars from the acid, tattoos, and repeated surgical removals.  Tony couldn’t imagine putting a child not even old enough to attend preschool through that.  It was the type of man Howard Stark was though: cruel and selfish.

Tony gazed down at the name scrawled on his arm.  Whoever his soulmate was, they had shitty handwriting.  Shittier than Tony’s and that was saying something.  Tony always wondered if his soulmate had Tony’s shitty handwriting on his body or if it was Tony’s autograph signing signature.  He hoped for his soulmate’s sake it was Tony’s signature.  Nobody should be cursed with Tony’s chicken scratch on their body for life.

He was beginning to wonder if he would ever meet his soulmate.  Tony was already pushing fifty and had yet to come across someone with the same name as on his arm.  Once, he had met a British guy named Pete Wisdom in a gay bar.  Pete was charming and handsome, but he didn’t have Tony’s chicken scratch or autograph signing signature on him.  Apparently, his soulmate had passed away and the mark had faded.  That was the only comfort that Tony had: if his mark was still there, then so was Peter.


	2. Apparently It's A Common Problem

Peter had always known he was bisexual.  It hadn’t really been something he debated on.  Sure, he hadn’t dated any guys before to know for absolute for certain, but he hadn’t dated any girls before either.  MJ had once suggested that Peter may be asexual.  She was joking of course, but Peter knew that wasn’t accurate.  Peter liked men and women.  However, he always felt obligated to hold back and wait for Anthony.

At least, Peter was pretty sure the guy’s name was Anthony.  His handwriting was remarkably bad.  For all Peter knew, it could be Alexander or Andrew.  May had taken him to a mark specialist once (apparently not being able to read your soulmates handwriting was a common problem) who had confirmed that he was indeed looking for an Anthony.  Peter liked his soulmate’s name, it felt right.  Peter Parker and Anthony… something.

Of course, having another guy’s name printed on you made you open season for homophobic bullies.  Peter lost track of how many times he had been mocked for his soulmate being another guy.  It made no sense to Peter.  You can’t pick your soulmate, just like you can’t pick your race or sexual orientation.  Granted, the same kids that bullied him for his soulmate being a guy also picked on the black kids too.  The only saving grace was that Anthony’s name was on Peter’s ribcage and it usually took new bullies a while to figure it out (Peter had taken to lying and saying the name said ‘Abigail’).  Peter just hoped that wherever Anthony was, they would meet soon.


	3. The Driver's in Queens

“I think the location has potential,” Tony admitted.

He and Pepper walked out of the building in Hell’s Kitchen that Tony was looking to purchase.  It was an old warehouse that Tony wanted to renovate into upscale apartments.  The real estate market in the area was booming and Stark Reality was snatching up as many potential places to renovate as possible.  The competition for good locations was fierce.  Some guy named Fisk had been trying to nab buildings that Tony was looking into.

Pepper nodded and made some notes on her tablet.  “I’ll put in an offer with the agent,” she replied.  “Hopefully before Fisk catches wind that we’re interested in it.”

Tony looked up and down the street for the car.  “Where’s Happy?” he asked.  “Is he seriously pulling this shit again?”

His assistant sighed and tucked her tablet into her purse.  “I’m sure he’ll be here any second,” she said.  “He probably just couldn’t get parking.  If we go for this place, we’ll have to have parking added on.  Let me give Happy a call.”

“If he’s in Queens again-,” Tony threatened.

Pepper waved him off as she walked away.  “I know, I know.  You’ll fire him,” she muttered.

As Pepper chatted on the phone with Happy, just out of earshot from Tony, Tony examined the outside of the building again.  It was good.  Three stories, so they could make the lower level parking and the upper two apartments.  Tony wasn’t getting his hopes up though.  Fisk was playing hardball and paying way more than buildings were worth just so Tony couldn’t get them.

“Happy’s on his way,” Pepper said as reproached Tony.

He gave her an expectant look.  “And?” he asked.

She shook her head softly.  “He was in Queens.”

Tony’s blood pressure began to rise.  He was getting really sick of Happy running off when he was on the job.  “He knows better.”

Pepper nodded.  “Yes, he does,” she agreed.  “However, the subway in Queens is down and he just went to give his girlfriend a ride to work and her kid a ride to school.”

“I don’t pay him a six-figure salary to drive his girlfriend around,” Tony grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Give him a break!” Pepper groaned.  “They both need this!  Its rare for anyone to start another relationship after they lose their mate.  Happy just wants them to know he cares.”

Tony rolled his eyes.  “Regardless, I’m reprimanding him when he gets here,” he muttered.  “Another fuck up and he’s on secretary duty for a month.”

When Happy finally pulled up (ten minutes later) in the Audi, Tony was passed irritated.  He was furious.  Tony yanked open the car door and climbed in.  “Are you aware of what time it is?” he snapped.

Happy at least had the decency to look ashamed.  “Eight forty-five, sir?” he asked.

“And where do we need to be at nine fifteen?” Tony muttered.

“Uptown Manhattan?”

Pepper climbed into the car alongside Tony.  “Happy,” she intervened, “just get going to uptown, okay?  Let’s make sure this doesn’t happen again.  We have a very important meeting with the architects this morning.”

Happy pulled away from the curb and began the drive to Manhattan, but Tony wasn’t through with him yet.  “Happy,” he said, catching the driver’s attention.  “If this keeps up, I am going to have to fire you.  Listen to my words: if you’re late for another pickup I’m putting you on secretary duty.  If I find out you’re going to pick your girlfriend up while you’re on the job again, you’re fired.  The only exception is cases of emergency and you ask me first.  Clear?”

It killed Tony to see Happy so downtrodden, but Happy seemed to have the notion that he could step all over Tony.  “Yes sir.” 


	4. Please Check Your Parameters

Peter wasn’t really sure who Harold worked for, but nothing says, “Hey, pick on me!” like being dropped off at school in a flashy car.  He _was_ pretty sure that the price of the car would pay the rent for their apartment for three years, however.  Harold never told Peter or Aunt May who he worked for, apparently that information was confidential, and Harold could only tell family members.  All he ever said was that he was a chauffeur for a wealthy business man.

This had to be true, because any time Harold picked Peter up to take him somewhere, Harold was always in a different expensive car.  Today it was an Audi.  Last week when he drove Peter to Ned’s house it was a Mercedes.  Aunt May even claims that Harold drove her to dinner in an Aston Martin one night.  Peter could only dream about having that kind of money.  Right now, he would be lucky if he could afford community college.

“Nice car, Parker,” Flash sneered, shoving Peter in the shoulder.  “Too good for the subway, I see.”

Peter shot Flash a dirty look.  “You and I both know that the subway is down, Flash,” he replied.

Flash rolled his eyes.  “Whatever,” he said dismissively.  “Where’d the car come from then?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Peter muttered before beelining to his locker.

Apparently, Flash wasn’t in the mood to bother Peter, because he didn’t follow him.  After Peter reached his locker, Ned appeared beside him.  “Whose car?” he asked.  “Aunt May’s new boyfriend again?”

Peter shrugged.  “Eh, sort of?” he replied, shoving his math textbooks into his bag.  “Harold’s a chauffeur, so the cars belong to his boss.”  Peter let out a laugh.  “Harold drives a Toyota Camry.”

Ned got a dreamy look in his eyes.  “Man,” he said pensively, “must be nice to be paid to drive around in fancy cars.”

“As long as he is treating May right, I don’t really care what he does,” Peter replied, closing his locker.  “She needs someone like Harold, especially after Ben.”

His best friend nodded.  “Yeah, no question,” he replied.  “Who do you think he works for though?”

Peter let out a disbelieving laugh.  “You know I don’t have the answer to that,” he said, leading the way to Algebra II.

Ned rolled his eyes.  “Well duh,” he mocked.  “Who would you _guess_ it is though?”

“I don’t know!” Peter said, exasperated.  Ned was always good at playing twenty questions.  “How many wealthy businessmen can you name?  Because I can name like four and one of them is dead.”

Ned let out a cackle.  “What if he works for Wilson Fisk?”

Peter groaned and rolled his eyes.  Ned loved to joke that Harold’s boss was Fisk.  Why exactly, Peter wasn’t sure.  Fisk was just known as a douche bag businessman turning politician.   “I highly doubt it,” Peter replied.  “May thinks he’s an employee for Stark Industries.”

“What makes her say that?” Ned asked as they sat down at their desks.

“She found some business cards for a woman named Virginia Potts in Harold’s suit jacket the other night.  Apparently, she works for Stark Industries,” he replied.  “I dunno, maybe he just got them from his boss.”

Ned got that dreamy look in his eye again.  “Man, could you imagine that?” he asked.  “Stark’s richer than Fisk twice over.

Peter gave Ned a confused look.  “What’s it matter?” he asked.  “It’s not Harold’s money.  It’s Stark’s.  They aren’t Harold’s cars.  He’s just a regular dude.”

“Man,” Ned whined.  “Just let me dream about being rich for one minute?  Would you?”

Peter laughed and shook his head.  “Ned, we’re poor kids from Queens,” he said, slightly discouraged.  “It’d be a miracle if we ever saw a fraction of the money people like Stark and Fisk have.”

“Never say never.”

Peter rubbed absentmindedly over the spot where his mark was.  “Maybe someday, right?”

* * *

Later that day, Peter stood in front of his bedroom mirror with his shirt off.  He traced the scrawl written on his side with his fingertips.  ‘Anthony.’  Peter had never met an Anthony before.  He had met a Tony, but it wasn’t _his_ Tony.

Ned had once jokingly suggested that maybe Peter’s Anthony was Tony Stark.  It was the man’s full name after all.  The odds were incredibly slim though.  Such large age gaps in soulmates were incredibly rare.  Usually, soulmates had a one to ten-year age difference between them.  A thirty-year age difference was one in a billion.

Peter hoped Stark wasn’t his soulmate though.  The laws for minors and legal adults regarding soulmates were incredibly strict.  Often, soulmates had an incredible romantic and sexual attraction to one another.  The rules on the legal age of consent didn’t change just because you were soulmates.  Not to mention any time spent together required a chaperone to avoid either party making sexual or romantic advances on the other.  All these rules were enforced because after you met your soulmate you were required to register yourselves with the government in this huge, open to the public database.  Anyone registered as a minor with a soulmate instantly got a probation officer that they reported to every week.

His eyes drifted to the computer sitting on his desk.  You could literally go online, enter someone’s name, date of birth, and the state they lived in and find out if they had a known soulmate.  If you didn’t have a soulmate yet, the database would show nothing.  Aunt May and Uncle Ben were both in there, and so was Harold (Peter had checked).  Minors wouldn’t show up either.  If you were a minor with a legal adult, the adult would show up but their soulmate wouldn’t be named or linked to until the minor was legal.

Peter sat down at the computer and pulled up the website for the U.S.S.R.D. (the United States Soulmate Records Database).  The front page of the website read was simply four textboxes with the U.S.S.R.D. logo at the top.  He hesitated, before opening another tab and search for Tony Stark’s birthday.  Once he had that information (May 29th, 1970), Peter filled out the page and hit the “Show Soulmate” button.

The website took a while to load, before finally displaying the results.  Peter felt slightly sick as he read and reread the page results.

 

**Citizen not found.  Please check your parameters and try again.**


	5. The Code of Conduct

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You don't have to read this chapter to understand the fic, but the code of conduct will be referenced a lot throughout the story.

**The United States Code of Conduct Regarding Minor and Adult Soulmates**

This code of conduct is relating to any soulmate pairs in which one of the mates is under the legal age of consent in their jurisdiction.  This code of conduct does not affect minor and adult soulmates in which one of the mates is a non-United States citizen (see The International Code of Conduct Regarding Minor and Adult Soulmates).

Soulmate relationships involving a minor and adult United States citizen are required to adhere to the following rules and United States laws:

  1. The soulmates are under no circumstance to be together without a chaperone or their assigned parole officer. Failure to comply will result in a minimum thousand dollar fine against both parties.
  2. All written (electronic mail, letters, faxes, direct messages, and social media), oral (in person conversation, phone conversation, and video chats), and video (recorded video shared either via social media, the cloud, or electronic mail) must be either chaperoned or reviewed before either party is permitted to interact with one another. The minor’s Internet activity will be heavily monitored by their parole officer.  If either party is found to be communicating or attempting to communicate to the other outside of these guidelines, the minor will be placed with Child Protective Services and the adult will face a fine up to five thousand dollars.
  3. The soulmates are prohibited from making sexual or romantic advances towards one another. Failure to comply will result in a minimum of fifteen years of jail time for the adult and the removal of the minor from their home.  The minor will be placed with Child Protective Services until they are of the legal age of consent.
  4. The soulmates are prohibited from moving out of the country until the minor is of the legal age of consent within their jurisdiction. Failure to comply will result in a minimum of twenty years of jail time for the adult and the removal of the minor from their home.  The minor will be placed with Child Protective Services until they are of the legal age of consent.
  5. The minor is prohibited from purposefully moving to another jurisdiction with a lower age of consent for the purposes of pursuing a sexual or romantic relationship with the adult. Evidence for just cause of the move must be provided to the United States Soulmate Matter Committee for the minor’s current jurisdiction, investigation and written approval from their parole officer, and signed consent from the minor’s legal guardian(s).  Failure to comply will result in the minor being placed with Child Protective Services until they are of the legal age of consent.  The adult will be fined a minimum of fifty thousand dollars.
  6. The minor will be exempt from being listed on the U.S.S.R.D. website and will refrain from being public knowledge until the minor is eighteen-years-old.
  7. Failure to register with the U.S.S.R.D. will result in jail time for both parties. The minor will remain in jail until they are eighteen-years-old.  The adult will face a minimum of five years.



If you believe you have found your soulmate, please complete the following steps:

  1. Register with the United States Soulmate Registry Department. If one of the mates is a minor, you will be automatically assigned a parole officer.
  2. Go before the United States Soulmate Matter Committee of your jurisdiction on the date assigned (sent via letter) to finalize registry. Each party is required to provide the following: 
    1. A twenty-five ($25) dollar registration fee.
    2. A handwriting sample written in front of the U.S.S.M.C.
    3. Birth certificates
    4. Two legal forms of identification (social security card, state-issued driver’s license, or passport)
    5. Both parties will be asked to show their Soulmate Mark to a committee member (for non-discreet mark locations, the mate in question will be accommodated).



If you are in a minor and adult soulmate relationship, please continue the following steps:

  1. The minor’s legal guardian(s) is required to register as a chaperone for the minor and adult.
  2. After registration, report to your parole officer once a week for state-required evaluation.
  3. Biweekly soulmate therapy sessions are recommended (though not required) by the U.S.S.M.C. to aid in a healthy lifestyle for both parties. Please contact your parole officer for recommendations.  All therapists must be approved by the U.S.S.M.C. before sessions may begin.
  4. When the minor reaches the legal age of consent in their jurisdiction, please contact the U.S.S.M.C. to begin the removal process of the state assigned parole officer and all sexual and romantic restrictions.




End file.
